More Florida

The next day we walked down to the beach near our hotel and got some nice sunny pictures before we left.

 

 

 

 

 

From there, we drove south to The Everglades, where we enjoyed a tram tour.  We saw alligators, herons, egrets, wood storks, Ibis, a Roseate spoonbill, Anhingas, more alligators, and a crocodile.  What an interesting place! 

 After our tour, we headed further south to the Keys.  We witnessed the most beautiful sunset that I think I’ve ever seen.

 So much nicer to look at than snow!

Hope you’re all stitching, because I’m not!      Sunny

The weatherman said Snow

And we said NO!  So we packed up the car, and drove for two days until we reached sunny Florida.  We spent our first day in and around Miami.  It was a dreary cloudy day for the most part, but it was warm and there was no snow on the ground.

this bird’s for Maria!

Of course we saw lighthouses and birds, and took a tour of downtown Miami on the Metromover.

We went to the Riverwalk, but there’s nothing there.  The highlight of the day was going to South Beach, to see the Art Deco district.

The only stitching that has been done the past few days is some crocheting in the car.  I started a new baby afghan, and hope to get most of it finished before we get home. 

More later……..Sunny

January Blues

I’ve had the blues all this month, but it’s not what you think.  Blue is the January color for RSC15.  The mission, should we decide to accept it, is to use blue scraps in any way that we can.  Angela posts block tutorials each week to make a beautiful star quilt, but I’ve decided on another plan. 

I have taken on a small service project, making place mats for Meals on Wheels.  My goal for this month was 12, but I may end up with only 11.

  These are all sandwiched, and folded in half, and I hope to get them all quilted tomorrow at our Sit and Sew day.  I don’t plan to bind them, but just do the sew and flip method.  Does that have a name?  Many of these started with small orphan blocks – nine patches, snowball, and HST’s.  The Dresden plates that I made were too large, so I just used half a plate per place mat.  I’ve used up nearly all my batting scraps, but barely made a dent in my blue scraps.  I even let my SIL shop my blue scraps.

I found a couple of blue hexies while I was organizing, so I made a few more and now I have my first doll quilt for Get Your Mrs. Claus On for 2015.

And I’ve decided to make a Dresden quilt with all the rainbow colors for the year.  I haven’t decided on the centers or the background yet, so what you’re seeing is my oh-so-lovely ironing board cover.  I’m hoping someone will take pity on me and make/buy me a new one.  LOL!

Are you tired of seeing blue?  I finally finished a baby afghan that I started back in the fall on our trip to Nova Scotia.

I’ve started the next one, so I’ll be able to work on it in the car on an upcoming road trip.  Crocheting is the only thing I can do in the car and not feel sick.

This beautiful postcard arrived in the mail today, from Jeanneke in the Netherlands.  It’s for Sheila’s postcard swap.  Making postcards is a lot of fun, because they’re small and quick to make.  Jeanneke hasn’t received my card yet, so I won’t show it until later.

The little crocheted hearts and button heart are just adorable.  Thanks Jeanneke, and thanks Sheila for organizing the swap.

I’m still plugging away at all my other small projects.  I’ve finished Jenny’s stitchery for the month, almost finished my Bunny Hill snowman heart, done some more cross stitch, and picked out my pattern and fabric for the Gail Pan SAL.  And if that isn’t enough, Val Laird is now offering a free BOM.  Check out the link on my  side bar if you’re interested in some beautiful stitchery.  I’ve got my fabric picked out, but haven’t started stitching yet.

Sadly, I do have to sleep sometime, so I’m off to do that now.  Thanks for stopping by, and

Keep on Stitching……Sunny

Mid Month Check-In

Well, we’re half way through the first month of the new year.  I’ve been working hard on all my projects, so I’ll take this opportunity to share what I’ve done.

Today is the 15th, so it’s time to link up to Gifted Gorgeousness.  My chosen project was a BOM in 2013, and I barely got started.  Since I have all the patterns now, I’m not stitching them in the order in which they were released.  I’m very happy to have the first month finished!

Last month, I made a second Scrappy Stars quilt top.  I’d been hanging onto several strips of red and white fabrics for a few years, and finally decided that this pattern would be perfect for the fabric.

I still have a couple of strips left, so I’ll be making a scrappy binding.  And I found a great backing fabric last week, so this will be going into the pile for quilting.  This quilt makes me happy!

In other quilting news, I finished this a week or so ago.  Again, this was fabric that had been gathering dust for awhile, and finally got put to use.

 

I continue to use up blue scraps, and my SIL shopped the scrap stash last week.  It feels good to use it up!

Speaking of my SIL, we had a sewing day last week, along with another friend.  We each chose a small project from “101 Fabulous Small Quilts”.  This started out to be rectangular, but I decided to make it bigger by squaring it up, and adding a border.  It will be a table topper in the bedroom.

Sure doesn’t look square in this picture does it?  Trust me on this.

Today I went to 4 quilt stores in the Lancaster, PA area, and I accidentally purchased fabric.  It all has a specific use, so it shouldn’t live in the stash forever.  Perhaps when I go on Retreat in a couple of months?

Keep on Stitching…….Sunny

2015 Goals and Projects

I’ve already been hard at work in 2015.  I’ve joined several SAL’s and hope to do some major scrap-busting this year.  First up is RSC2015.  Angela over at socrappy has been running this for several years, but this is my first year to join in.  She chooses a color each month to work with, and also provides tutorials for different blocks.  We can use her block suggestions and have a rainbow quilt at the end of the year, or make any other blocks that we wish.  Since I have a bad habit of making small quilts that never get used, I decided to make place mats for our Meals on Wheels program. 

I spent one entire evening sorting all my scraps by color, and was amazed at how much ‘scrash’ I have.  I don’t remember where I saw that word, sorry, but it’s so appropriate!  I’ll be happy to give credit if I find out.  So far, I’ve made 6 placemats.

I started by using a few small orphan blocks that turned up, and then tried to make them into a usable size. 

I also made a birthday card using some fabric, but I can’t share it yet.  Today I cut our three Dresden plates.  I think two of them will become placemats, and then I think I’ll try to make a quilt, adding a block each month with the assigned color. I’ve never made a Dresden plate before, so this should be fine.  I’m also planning to participate in Get Your Mrs. Claus On Project again, and this month I’m planning a hexie doll quilt.  After all, I had two lonely hexies in my blue bin, so I’ll add a few more and make a quilt.  I’ve barely made a dent in the blues, so there will be more placemats forthcoming.

Another SAL that caught my attention is Jo’s Gifted Gorgeousness.  This is for cross stitch or other stitchery projects in our ‘pile’ that were gifted to us, or the result of a giveaway.  I have the perfect project for this, and will be posting my monthly results on the 15th.  Mine is a BOM from 2013 that I barely started, so I’m hoping this will give me the incentive to finish.  Jo is pretty lenient about what qualifies as gifted, so stop over to check it out if you’re interested.

Martina, who blogs at sunshinequilting is hosting a Gail Pan Patterns SAL.  We’ll be working on our choice of patterns, and linking up at the end of the month.  I always see so many lovely Gail Pan projects in blog land, that I just had to join in on this one.  I’ve already purchased a book, so I’m ready to go.

And of course, I’m working on Jenny’s Vintage Kitchen BOM.  If I finish this post early enough tonight, I’ll be starting on my stitching.

Bunny Hill’s free project this year is 12 months of little snow people on hearts.  The first one is adorable, and I can’t wait to get started on it, either. you won’t want to miss this one.

2015 will be another year in which I strive to use up what I have, and not buy any new fabric unless it’s necessary to finish something.  My record wasn’t perfect in 2014, but I did pretty well.  I’m also planning to get all my UFO’s quilted this year.  Other than a couple of very long-term projects, my only UFO’s just need to be quilted.

If you’re still reading along.  I appreciate it.  I know I haven’t been very good about blogging lately, and I keep saying I’ll try to do better.  I’ve just been so busy sewing!  Thanks for stopping by.

Keep on Stitching - - - - - Sunny